


Thrust of Grace

by Rubynye



Category: X-Men (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, Mutant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-30
Updated: 2011-08-30
Packaged: 2017-10-23 06:21:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/247167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rubynye/pseuds/Rubynye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(Set during <i>X-men 2: X-men United</i>) In the middle of chaos, a boy and a girl.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thrust of Grace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [igrockspock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/gifts).



> I rewatched X2 after watching XMFC, and was struck again by wondering what it was like to live through the movie's climax, so I went ahead and wrote about it.  
> All Thanks To: [](http://igrockspock.livejournal.com/profile)[**igrockspock**](http://igrockspock.livejournal.com/) for the [Picture is Worth 1000 Words Multifandom Comment Fic Meme](http://igrockspock.livejournal.com/173793.html), for which I wrote this, specifically [this image](http://igrockspock.livejournal.com/173793.html?replyto=1920993).  
>  Title from "Lovers In a Dangerous Time", which has always had a four-color feel to me.  
> 

It might just be the best day of Felipe's life. It's a warm morning, the breeze so sweet even the city air smells good, but maybe that's just Aditi, her fingers meshed with his, her long hair fluttering on the wind, her smile bright as they walk down the street between glittering storefronts and smiling shoppers. Aditi points at a bookstore's sidewalk display of bright cards, so they set off across the street; the whole world feels beautiful, and the most beautiful girl in it is holding Felipe's hand --

Someone groans, and Aditi gasps. Felipe turns towards the noise and sees a lady drop her shopping bags, clawing at her temples; he turns back to Aditi to suggest they head over to help the woman, and finds her kneeling on the asphalt just as he feels her weight dragging on his hand. "Aditi!"

"Felipe," she gasps, pitching over onto her side, her fingers sliding from between his. He kneels beside her, trying to scoop her up -- they're in the middle of the crosswalk, the middle of the street -- but there's a screech of brakes and Felipe glances up to see a minivan turned sideways across the traffic, the driver writhing in her seat.

Aditi's writhing too, clutching her head, gasping in pain. "What's wrong?" Felipe asks helplessly. "Aditi? Should I get --" He looks up to call for help, but there's none to be had; all over the street people are convulsing on the ground, everyone else standing over or kneeling beside the stricken in horrified dismay. A few feet away a little boy rolls around screaming on the sidewalk as a fluffy dog whines and paws at his arm, and Felipe has to grit his teeth against the shrieks of pain, trying to keep himself together.

He's the only help Aditi has right now. Her tender mouth opens and closes, her wide eyes crimped shut; she doesn't actually speak, but Felipe hears her voice all the same, from everywhere and nowhere at once. _Don't leave me. Don't leave me. Don't leave me._

There isn't time to wonder about it; she gropes blindly for him and he catches her hand, threading their fingers again. "I won't," he promises, "I won't ever."

She smiles through a sob, squeezing his hand, catching his shirt in her flailing fist, and when he bends to kiss her he can feel it somehow, the pounding in her head and the light brush of his lips. He kisses her again and thinks of her smiling even though right now she can't, feels how good the touch of his mouth is for her, soothing her even if, especially if it's the last thing she'll ever get to feel.

And then suddenly, as unexpectedly as it began, it stops. Aditi lies still and Felipe's heart clenches -- is she -- but then she takes a huge whooping breath and laughs, soft and wondering, and when she opens her dark eyes they glisten with tears. "Oh, Felipe, I thought I was dying," she breathes, and his heart hurts with relief, he pulls her up into his arms and kisses her fervently, crushing her to his chest, and she clings to him, kissing him back. All around them people whimper and laugh and cry, a fire roars in the distance and the breeze fills with smoke, but Aditi's all right, she's all right, and Felipe kisses her as if he might never have gotten to kiss her again.

Until a spike of pain drives through his head.

He can't let himself fall on her. He pushes away, falling away, barely feeling himself hit the pavement, barely feeling anything besides the throbbing agony lancing through his head. But he feels Aditi's chill fear, he hears her scream, "Felipe!", he hears distant screaming all around them as her soft hands cup his face. "Felipe! Hold onto me!" All he can do is gasp, but he holds on, wrapping his hands around her soft-skinned wrists, clinging to her voice even though it feels like his brain's being shredded inside his skull. "Hold on, you can do it, you'll make it, just hold on!"

"Aditi," he tries to say, but if he opens his mouth he'll scream, the pain ricocheting around his skull will blast out of his mouth, so he grits his teeth and hangs on to Aditi's hands and her voice. _I'm with you,_ she tells him inside his disintegrating mind. _You're going to survive this, I won't let you die, just hold onto me!_

The pain pops like a soap bubble, not leaving even a residual ache. Felipe blinks and sees the sky above them, bright blue framing Aditi's worried face, wisps of her hair falling down around his head. "What the hell," he gasps, and she leans down and kisses him quickly, tugging at him while he's still too rattled to move.

"Up, get up," she urges, helping him to his feet. She shouldn't have to lift him, he's fine now, but his body refuses to believe it. His arms and legs are so heavy and stiff he has to lean on her as they shuffle to the sidewalk; once they make it they thump down onto the curb and just clutch each other, her head on his shoulder, her hair spillingdown his back. "Felipe," Aditi murmurs, "you love me, right?"

"Of course," he says, hand curved around her waist; he turns towards her but she hides her face against his chest. All around them people are helping each other up, dusting each other off, running around this way and that.

 _Don't freak out,_ Felipe hears Aditi say, inside his mind again. He jumps a little, he can't help it, but he doesn't let go, and he can feel her soft relief as she relaxes, slumping against him. _Felipe, I love you so much. You need to know, now more than ever -- I'm a mutant._

Felipe blinks, looking down at Aditi's sleek head, the shine of sunshine on her hair the same as ever. After everything today, her confession feels almost anticlimactic; after thinking he might have to watch her die, this certainly won't make him let go of her. "Well, yeah," he answers aloud, and gets that mental image of her smiling again. "But does that mean --"

"Yeah," she murmurs, and goes on in her mental voice. _There's a telepath, so much stronger than I am, than anyone else -- he or she or whatever tried to kill all the mutants, and then everyone else, and stopped both times, or was stopped. I don't know how. Maybe it was those X-men. I don't know._

Felipe looks around at the people staggering by, still a bit shell-shocked. The minivan slowly rolls past -- its driver must be a mutant. As is the girl he loves, leaning trustingly on him.

Aditi kisses his cheek. "I think I have it back under control," she whispers. "I'm not in your mind anymore."

Felipe looks at her, and thinks of the right thing to say. "Too bad," he tells her, "the joke about us having a mixed marriage was a lot funnier inside my head."

Aditi's grin shines until she hides it with her hand as giggles overtake her, and Felipe grins back. They're going to be all right.


End file.
